


Verdant Blooms, Tangerine Smiles

by naberiie



Series: Duty, Loyalty, Sisterhood: Royal Handmaidens of Naboo ⚜ [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Childhood Friends, Fluff, Gen, Handmaidens of Naboo, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-03
Updated: 2018-09-03
Packaged: 2019-07-06 14:09:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15887604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/naberiie/pseuds/naberiie
Summary: Young Eirtaé Veruna is the prankster terror of Theed Palace; not even her older brother, King Ars (he prefers Ari, thank you very much) Veruna - can control her. She's never had a friend her own age - until one day one of her brother's valets brings his young cousin Rabé to the Palace.Her tangerine dress is as bright as her smile.





	Verdant Blooms, Tangerine Smiles

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rabesfives](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rabesfives/gifts).



“Uh – my lady Eirtaé?”

_Just a few steps more…_

Eirtaé’s newest nurse – just a few steps shy of panic – was doing her best to maintain her composure as she walked briskly down the wide marble halls of the palace, surreptitiously glancing side-to-side, ducking behind columns, eyes wide and nervous as the search proved fruitless once again.

Eirtaé liked watching peoples’ eyes. They told her everything she needed to know about them. Likes, dislikes, happiness, fear. When they were lying.

She could always tell when people were lying.

People lied to her a lot.

Her nurse _harrumphed_ to herself, the sound blending into the soft scuttle of her long, full dress on the marble floors, the quiet _tap-tap-tap_ of her heeled shoes against the cold stone.

Not once did she think to look _up_ , and this made Eirtaé giggle in delight. There was a spot above the archway that – if she was quick – she could scramble up the windowpanes and tuck herself into.

Herself, and a small bucket of ice-cold water.

This new nurse was mean. She _deserved_ it.

Her nurse’s head whipped around, looking for the source of the laugh. “Eirtaé, please, King Veruna is meeting with Senator Palpatine today and he _specifically_ asked that we stay out of trouble-! Can’t we do that, for your dear older brother?”

Eirtaé rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue at the thought, but didn’t respond to the obvious trap. _Come on, come on._

The nurse didn’t notice the thin, nearly invisible thread Eirtaé had looped from one column across the hall to the opposite. At least the last nurse had razor-sharp vision; that had made him fun to prank. This new one was no fun at all. It was too easy.

She screeched at the top of her lungs as the ice water plunged down the front and back of her dress, soaking her to the bone – Eirtaé couldn’t help but laugh out loud and the nurse’s eyes were furious as she finally found the shadowed alcove where she’d been hiding. “Young lady, _get down here-_ ”

“Eirtaé.”

At the sound of her mother’s quiet voice, Eirtaé froze. She scrambled down from the alcove as quick as a shot, smoothing her skirts and turning to face her mother, ignoring the trembling rage of her nurse.

Deirdre Veruna never spoke above a murmur, but when she spoke, people _listened._

Eirtaé wanted to be like that.

Deirdre glanced at the nurse, and dismissed her with a simple flick of her chin. She left wet spots on the marble as she scurried away, and when Deirdre’s ice-cold eyes fell on her daughter Eirtaé wanted to turn and follow her disgraced nurse.

“Good morning, Mama.”

One of Ari’s valets, Kardan Bhutia, was with her. She’d always liked Kardan – he had kind eyes, he gave her sweets and laughed at her pranks, even when they made Ari mad. She didn’t prank him as much as the other valets. Holding his hand, gazing around the palace in delight, was a girl about Eirtaé’s age. She had long, dark hair wrapped with orange ribbons and a light dress to match. She was tugging on Kardan’s hand in excitement, and when she spotted Eirtaé, her smile actually _grew_.

She didn’t really know how to react to that.

Most people were afraid of her.

Eirtaé regarded the newcomer with a level, fixed gaze. _Like Mother does._ Normally, people shifted their eyes along with their feet but this girl… she only smiled wider. She was missing two teeth but her eyes were bright, relaxed.

 _Unafraid_ , Eirtaé realized with a tiny spark of delight in her own belly. This girl wasn’t afraid of her, not like the valets, the guards, the nurses.

She wasn’t afraid.

“Eirtaé, this is Rabé Bhutia. She’s Kardan’s cousin,” her mother said, raising one hand and gesturing for Kardan to gently propel his cousin towards Eirtaé. He did so with a reassuring smile – it was a near-identical match to hers – and Rabé let go of his hand, swaying in place in front of Eirtaé. “Be polite. Say hello.”

Eirtaé dipped a curtsy and Rabé followed suit, her big cheerful eyes not once wavering from Eirtaé. “I like your dress; green is really pretty on you!”

Eirtaé blinked, and looked down at her dress. Her nurse had insisted on the green one today and hadn’t listened when Eirtaé wanted the gray one. She ran her hands over the silks and quietly murmured thanks. _Maybe it’s not so bad…?_ “Orange is pretty on you, too,” and somehow Rabé’s semi-toothless grin grew even _more._ Her smile was as bright as her tangerine dress.

Deirdre nodded and went on, “I think it’s high time you had friends your own age, Eirtaé. Rabé will come to the palace every day after school.” She turned to Kardan and continued briskly, “If they get along, we’ll start tutoring Rabé with Eirtaé here. She’ll have the best education in Theed.”

Kardan inclined his head. “I thank you for your kindness, Madame. I’ll tell Rabé’s parents when I take her home this evening.”

“Good.” Deirdre’s gaze smoothly turned to the two young girls, and Eirtaé returned it with as much level calmness as she could muster. “You’ll show her around the palace today.”

“Yes, Mother.” She had not been dismissed yet, so she did not move. Rabé glanced back at her cousin, and then back to Eirtaé, but not at Eirtaé’s mother. She played with the hem of her skirts instead. She was afraid of Deirdre; everyone was.

“Eirtaé.” Deirdre said softly. “Do not bother your brother or the Senator today.”

She nodded, and then Deirdre smiled, and cupped her chin with a firm hand. “That’s my girl. Go on.”

“Do… do you want to see the Throne Room?” She shot a glance up at her mother. “We’ll only look in, Mama.”

She nodded in permission, and Eirtaé and Rabé were free to go.

“It’s this way,” she said shyly, and Rabé bounced up next to Eirtaé and nodded so hard that Eirtaé was afraid she would lose her balance. “Ari is doing his fencing exercises in the courtyard right now, so he won’t be in the Throne Room until later.”

As they walked through the bright sunlit corridors of the palace, Eirtaé noticed just how many of the servants scampered out of her way when they saw her. She fiddled with her hands, afraid that Rabé would notice, afraid that Rabé would suddenly be afraid of her, too.

She didn’t know how to talk to someone her own age. Everyone else in the palace was older, much older.

Just as she’d said, the Throne Room was deserted aside from the ever-stoic guards. Rabé gasped out loud in delight and walked towards the large orange throne in awe, running her hands over the smooth marble desk and shivering in delight.

“Your brother is really the _King_?” She asked, and only then did Eirtaé notice her Canals district lilt. It was sweet, and made her think of sunlit-speckled waters and bright flowers.

She nodded. “But he’s very full of himself.”

“He’s so handsome!”

Eirtaé wrinkled her nose and made a disgusted sound, and Rabé burst out laughing. “He _is!”_

“Ah, _thank_ you!”

Eirtaé couldn’t help but groan out loud as her brother strode into the Throne Room, looking exceptionally pleased with himself. He’d just come from his fencing practice, and wore a billowing white shirt loosely tucked into dark red pants, his favored rapier strapped to his side. Two more of his valets – Rihma and Liré – followed close behind, dressed in identical practice clothes. When they spied Eirtaé they immediately stopped and their eyes roved around the room, looking for whatever waylaid tricks she might have set up for their return. Her stomach twisted a little in guilt.

Ari came to a stop in front of the girls and grinned down at them – Rabé was completely starstruck – his hands on his hips. “Hullo, Airy, who’s this?”

“She’s _my_ friend,” Eirtaé replied at once, grabbing Rabé’s hand so quickly that it shook Rabé out of her starry-eyed gaze. “Her name is Rabé Bhutia.”

“Oh! Kardan’s cousin, right?” Ari replied cheerfully on purpose to make Eirtaé more annoyed. “It’s nice to meet you, Rabé.”

Rabé mumbled something that might have been “nice to meet you too.”

“Keep Airy out of trouble, alright? We have an important meeting with the Senator today and he didn’t seem to like sitting on algae last time he was here.” Ari said breezily, pushing his blond hair back. “He’ll be here in about an hour or so – hey, where’s your nurse, Eirtaé?”

She just smiled sweetly, and Ari groaned. “Come, now, Airy. They’re just trying to _help_.”

“I don’t like them, _Ars_.” Eirtaé retorted. “Come on, Rabé. I’ll show you the courtyards now. We have lots of water gardens – we can go swimming, if you’d like?”

When Rabé turned her attention back to Eirtaé from her brother – from the King to his kid sister – with the same starstruck expression as before, a thrill of utter happiness jolted through her entire body. “That sounds amazing!”

Eirtaé’s smile matched Rabé’s, and she realized that now Rabé was here, she didn’t ever want her to go.

"Do you really think green is pretty on me?"

Rabé nodded ferociously. "It's like the waters at night. Deep and dark and mysterious."

Eirtaé had never had a friend before.

Rabé liked to prank, too – having someone to do it with was much nicer than spending her days alone in the big marble palace of Theed. She could scamper up into the hiding places as quickly as Eirtaé, and she liked trying to make the guards laugh and lose their focus.

It only took three days before Deirdre arranged for Rabé to take her school lessons with Eirtaé at the palace.

 


End file.
